Inside Bell's Brain

Every year, like so many of you, I try to select a word that will govern my thoughts and actions for the year. If I’m completely honest, last year’s word was a complete failure, and it’s possible that I’ve never felt more UNdisciplined in my life. (But I may come back to that at a later time.) Today I want to focus on my 2019 word and all it means for me. Last year was such an... interesting... year for my growth. It was the year I definitely never saw coming. But I faced a lot of fears and insecurities that I had no idea still loomed under my surface. I’m still facing those, and that growth process has led me to choose the word “enough.” I love the song “You Say” by Lauren Daigle that my friend sent me. She knows some of my inner struggles and conflict and sent me this lyrical jewel in one of my dark moments last year. I dare say it’s been on repeat pretty much ever since.  So I also embarked on a series (more to come) on the lies I have believed after beginning t...

Admittedly I struggled with my "one little word" for this year.  I'm at a really pivotal point in a great deal of things going on in my life right now but I wanted it to be a word of true meaning and significance for me...a word that represents the excitement, fear, elation, frustration, and confidence that this year is for me. At first I thought ringmaster seemed like a good enough word.  I was certainly juggling the many responsibilities I have while learning to find the most important balance...a balance to take care of myself.  I was becoming a ringmaster of my own life again .  (And I don't mean that in a spiritual sense because God guides my daily path.  I just mean that I was taking control back of the things that have spiraled beyond my control...mostly because of my desire to make others around me happy and to be a person who can't say "no.")  But I digress... That still just didn't have the right nuance to it.  This year is about...

  Call me an overachiever .  Or just a lover of alliteration .  But I think my #16for16 is off to a great start.  I wanted to have something catchy for this big upcoming year, especially since last year's #focusedin15 worked so well for me.  When I met with a few of my best girlfriends on New Year's Eve to map out our plans and intentions for the coming year, I broke each of my big areas into three sub-goals.  I added one little overall goal to the bottom...and BAM!  There was my #16for16. Everything is kind of self-explanatory in the bullets, but a few things may not be.  For example, PTP (Polishing the Pulpit) is a spiritual retreat week that my congregation hosts for churches of Christ from all around.  It originally started as an opportunity for preachers to connect, but then it grew into an amazing get-together of Christians from all around.  I'm hopeful that by going I will grow spiritually and that I might e...

The new year is off to an amazing start, and I wanted to share something with you that I've been working on for a while.  The school where I work practices the 7 Habits of Happy Kids.  I read the version for teenagers when I was a preteen and was made a believer!  The principles are timeless and logical and, perhaps most importantly, provide EVERYONE an opportunity to reflect and improve.  No matter where you are in the process, you've never "arrived"...you can always work to better yourself on some habit, in some way.  It's interesting to revisit the habits as an adult, after I've had tons more life experiences and my paradigms have grown and changed.  When we completed our training on the 7 Habits at the beginning of this school year, we contemplated our major roles and began establishing our personal mission statements.  I've been working on a "map" of that idea for a while, and I've finally had a chance to sit down and finish it.  I rel...

Well, I suppose what they say is true...better late than never, right?  I stumbled upon this linky by complete accident, but the ironic thing was that I had been thinking about a post along this concept.  I just didn't know if others would be interested!  How wonderful that I discovered they are interested and so many fellow bloggers had already linked up!  So since I'm still in that reflective state of mind, here goes my 14 in '14.. . I'm quite the collector of quotes...I even have pin boards to prove it!   So this one is definitely a tough one for me to narrow down.  I've thought and thought, but one just doesn't seem right.  Here are few that have been on my mind and in my heart lately. This is my favorite Bible verse and has comforted me in many times of distress and concern. Again, I couldn't narrow it down to just one, but I was able to get them both in the same picture!  (Does that count?)  A f...